Coast ... What Coast ? Tunnel Count = 0 Ever since I reached Morioka the temperature has dropped massively. Its cold on a night even with a sweatshirt on and the temperature during the day is only hitting a balmy 10 or 11 degrees. Today the wind had dropped to about 10mph from the east, so although it was neither help nor hindrance, it was straight iff the Pacific and the wind chill made it feel only about 6C. I had three layers on and I wouldnt say I was warm ! I was pretty much hrading straight North all day and I was flying. Its amazing cycling when theres no wind, hills, traffic lights to bother you! After 10 miles of effortless cycling I was passing Misawa which is a Japanese Airforce base and just ahead of me two jet fighters took off - I must say they were the noisiest jets Ive ever seen, making an absolute racket for about a minute when they were probably 10 miles away. The countryside was mainly flat, ploughed fields but there was little population to be seen. It looked and felt like Cambridgeshire ! Nothing much changed 20 miles, 30 miles .. I had done 38 miles before noon when I reached an estuary, the first time I had been on the east coast since Kobe ! I stopped at Rokkasho for a hot coffee to warm up but mainly to slow myself down as the hotel checkin wasn't till 3pm. Next I had to cross the headland as Mutsu is on a Bay which sits conveniently between the East and West coast of the very top of the island of Honshu. I had a few climbs which I would describe more as undulations and they failed to slow me down. I expected a nice ride along the bay as the road looked close .. but it wasnt close enough and any view was constantly obscured. There were buzzards circling and getting very close but every time I tried to photo them they kept their distance. I did get a pic of a smaller bird of prey which I thought might be a harrier which had perched itself on some power lines. To be honest Ive seen few birds or even animals during the ride. The odd deer and monkey but otherwise nothing ... glad to not see a bear though ! So I reached Mutsu at 2:15 and decided to go to the coast for a coffee .. it was un accessible ! I got close but a highway with retail ran parallel and there were no roads along the coast. I found a tiny road that seemed to go there so I turned down it, crossed a train line and then it turned into a track in a wood. I persevered and reached an estuary, yeah it was a bit muddy sand flats but the views across the bay were good and I felt it such a shame the town seemed to have turned its back on it. I made my way to my hotel by 3pm thinking .. have I really cycled 72 miles Today ?